Summer Rain

​Every month I try to focus on one particular area that I can improve on – this last month was to ‘accept people for what they are’. As I reflected upon this goal at the end of the month I was honest with myself and acknowledged that I hadn’t done this particularly well, I was still allowing those negative thoughts about others to creep into my head and interfere with what I should actually be focusing on.So, in order to try and change my mindset I took myself out into a very public, crowded place and became mindful of all the different people in my environment. I calmed my mind and then really focused on the people around me.There were fat people, skinny people, old people, young people, people covered with tattoos, people without tattoos, there were children playing, screaming, crying, there were people by themselves, people on their phones, people catching up with friends. There were people working, people running, people sitting, people reading, people relaxing, people stressing.Some of these people were happy, some were clearly angry, some were just going through the motions, some were laughing, some chatting, even one or two were crying.I have always enjoyed the act of people watching, however, as I became more aware of the people surrounding me, it became even more apparent that it didn’t matter to these people what I thought of them, just as I don’t think about what people think of me.Upon reflection this was a wonderful exercise for me to undertake – it allowed me to open up my mind and by doing this I can now indulge in my hobby of people watching without negative thoughts creeping into my mind randomly. Now when I go out amongst ‘the people’ all I see are just people; they may be eating, they may be with friends, they may be on their phone, but whatever they are doing, I hope they are enjoying it.